The Ramsey Show - App - 3 Cs: Communication, Commitment and Consistency (Hour 3)

Episode Date: May 23, 2019

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Thanks for being with us. We're glad you are here. Danielle is with us in San Bernardino, California. Hi, Danielle. How are you? Hi, sir.

How are you doing? I appreciate taking my call. It's Daniel. I'm sorry. I misread it. Hey, Daniel. How are you, man? Good, good, sir.

Thank you for taking my call. Sure. How can I help? So both me and my wife have a big decision to make, and we wanted to know if that's the right decision. I'm a small business owner. We both work at this business. We currently live in our current property. I do have a second property that I'm renting.

Since we started listening to you, our goal has changed to at least paying off our first mortgage on our first rental property, just because it has the higher interest rates. And then the big decision that we wanted to make is we're thinking about moving out of California to a more affordable state and possibly selling the business, which will definitely help us possibly pay both properties. So we'll pay it faster than we normally have to, which is stay here in this business and continue to save and pay off the first mortgage at least. Okay. What kind of business do you have?

It's a dessert shop, gift shop. So it's basically a mix of desserts. And like I said, we both run it. We do have some employees. Do you enjoy the business? We love it. Yeah, we both. I enjoy it. My wife definitely loves it. So we definitely enjoy what we do. So where would you move and what would you do if you were going to move? Honestly, we have a very nice contract that we currently work with a company that delivers, make deliveries, and they're nationwide.

So if we move to another state, first, the rent of our business in a different state will be much less than we would currently pay, as you know, in California. So you could open the same kind of a business, and you have a large contract for delivery nationwide that doesn't care where you're delivering from. So you could keep a large portion of your income. Yes, sir. That's correct. So we will definitely have a job no matter where we go, what state.

I'm just thinking just because the rental is so high here in California, it would be a nice income for both of us, for both homes, actually, even the house that we currently live in. You know, the rent is going around $1,700. I own a lot of real estate, and I don't own any real estate. I own tens of millions of dollars of real estate. I don't own any real estate that is far away from where I live. I don't want to be a long-d that's how you get your heart that's how somebody changes their harley oil in your living room i see yeah i mean i i we kind of thought about that of you know there's an issue because right

now if there's an issue i have a very good relationship with the current tenant that i have and i can just run over and and fix it. If I were going to leave, I would sell everything and leave, and then go do my investing and my business in the new area that you prefer to live in. Okay. Yeah, I mean, we're fortunate. We bought both property during the housing market crash. And, you know, like, for example, the first one, we only owe $100,000 on it, and right now the value is $400,000.

Do you have children? Three. Where do you want to raise your children? I would like to raise them in, you know, we thought about maybe Colorado is a nice place, just somewhere, you know, we just spend a lot of time, especially in the delivery business, we spend a lot of time in delivery with the traffic, you know, and it's only getting worse here in California. Yeah, but, I mean, you wouldn't have that part of the business.

You'd only have the business that ships out until you rebuild, right? You'd have to rebuild the business when you did that. Exactly, yes. Okay. Well, I mean, you just, yeah, you need to pick out and ask yourself, where do I want to be? Don't end up somewhere because you just started there. End up where you want to be because you intentionally went there.

And you say, hey, you know what? I love California. Taxes are high. Traffic's bad, but I love it anyway. And I got a bunch of friends that live in la and they love it they think it's awesome you know they don't think the traffic's awesome they don't think the taxes are awesome and they think some of their politicians are crazy but they love living there and and so they don't have any desire to live leave and i love living in you know nashville just outside

nashville and i'm not leaving um so you know i think you need to figure out where it is you want to be 20 years from now and why don't you go ahead and go there and if you think well gosh i can tolerate california for 20 years so i can no no no no go ahead and leave if that's the way you feel so where do you want to raise your kids where do you want to run your business if it's there stay there and keep working your plan there's nothing wrong with that if it's somewhere else sell everything and go to that new place and take your delivery portion of your business and rebuild from that and you'll be in great shape hey thanks for the call open phones at 888-825-5225. Joel is in Billings, Montana.

Hi, Joel. How are you? Hi, Dave. How are you today? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, I have a situation. I need some foundation work done on my house.

It's going to be roughly $30,000. Good Lord. Yeah, no kidding. I have that in my emergency fund. Good. But if I spent all of that, I would have nothing in my emergency fund. Yeah, but you have an emergency. Well, yeah. That's what your emergency fund's for. Well, I understand that, but it would feel a little uncomfortable

if I didn't have anything left in there. I can imagine. That's what I was thinking. What in the world is wrong with your foundation that's $30,000? That sounds unbelievable. Yeah, well, it's a pretty significant problem. Have you gotten several bids? I've gotten two so far.

I'm thinking the $30,000 is not just that repair. It's fixing the fence and putting in new cement, et cetera, et cetera, after the project's done. Okay. What's your household income? $120,000. And so how much of this $30,000 is an emergency, and how much of it is repairs that you could cash flow after you got the emergency repaired? The emergency was quoted 25.

The foundation work itself. Yeah, man, that sounds like your house is about to fall in. That's extreme. I've done a bunch of foundation repairs. I own a bunch of real estate. I did rehabs for a decade. And I very seldom get over $10,000 on it. So you've got a really severe situation. Yeah.

No, I would not borrow money. You have the money. That's what it's for. And I would cash flow to real quickly build mine up. Or if you want to not use that money and put off the repair just a little while, it doesn't sound like you can, but if you can put it off a little while, save up some money and, you know, not completely deplete the emergency fund, that'd be fine. But I'm going to get several bids because sometimes these people,

well, it's a good space to know a lot about before you spend money. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs. Christian Health Care Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry.

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On the first week after launch. So we're very, very proud of him. The book is The Proximity Principle, the proven strategy that will lead to the career you love. So all the Ramsey personalities are now national bestselling authors. Christy Wright, Chris Hogan, Rachel Cruz, Anthony O'Neill, Ken Coleman, and I've had a couple. Eight out of ten Americans cannot cover a basic emergency. That's your neighbor, your family member, a co-worker. They're living paycheck to paycheck. And they need a plan if they're going to win with money.

If that's you, you need a plan if you're going to win with money. Financial Peace University gives you that plan. Our Financial Peace University classes are led by volunteer coordinators who come from all walks of life. Our coordinators have helped 6 million people learn how to pay off debt so that they can spend wisely, so they can build wealth, so they can be outrageously generous. And ultimately, change their whole family tree.

If you want to learn how you can lead a Financial Peace University group as a coordinator, we need your help. Contact us at DaveRamsey.com or text LEADFPU to 33789. You want to lead a class in your area, in your church? Text LEADFPU, no spaces, no dashes, LEADFPU to 33789 or jump on DaveRamsey.com and our team will jump in and help you and make sure you're taken care of. Sona is with us in Dallas. Hi, Sona.

How are you? Hi, I'm good. How about you, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I'm a mother of four children. I'm a stay-at-home mom. And in the process of a divorce, I only have $100 to my name.

So from a financial standpoint, what do you advise me to do? Why is your husband not supporting the children? Hello? Yes, I'm here, Dave. Why is your husband not supporting the children? That is the law. He is. Yes, I'm in the process of Why is your husband not supporting the children? That is the law. He is. Yes, I'm in the process of divorce.

I haven't. I know. I know you're in the process of divorce. During the process of divorce in Texas, he has to give you money when you have four kids. Okay, Dave. Doesn't he? Yes. Yes, he does.

But I'm looking forward towards the future um okay so a hundred but when i heard a hundred dollars and four kids i heard hungry people no we're not hungry i mean in my own personal what i have oh okay well you have four kids and you have the money that he's giving you to feed the four kids so first thing I want to make sure is you're okay. That's what I was working on. But you're okay. Oh, I'm sorry, Dave. Okay, that's okay.

That's all right. How long have you been married? We were made eight years. And how long has this divorce been going on? It just started. Okay. And what does he make a year? 62.

Okay. And so what are your future career plans? Because you're obviously going to get child support with four children. You may or may not get alimony in Texas after eight years. I'm sure your attorney has advised you on all of this. So I'm sure you have a career path that you're thinking of, don't you? Yes. How old are your babies? I have a two-month-old, a two-year-old, a five-year-old, and a nine-year-old.

Wow. Okay. So what's your career idea? I want to be a pen tester, a penetration tester. I'm sorry, I didn't understand you. A penetration tester, it's IT hacking, legal hacking. Oh, security on the IT side. Okay. Yeah. Okay, I'm sorry. I mean, we have security folks, but we just – you're talking about an ethical hacker, right?

Correct. Yeah. Okay. All right. Cool. Okay. So do you have training in that area? I just started training.

So I've already taken some steps needed to go in that direction. Okay. Are you going to be doing that on a contract basis or full-time? I would like to do it full-time. But, of course, you know, contract is what's going to appear first. And so what arrangements are you thinking of for the children while you're working full-time? Yeah, that's part of my concern was the child care because you know child care is going to be astronomical i agree good news is if you can get uh trained in the

security side of the it world it is a hot um hot commodity right now and the more you you advance in that area the more you can make there's uh make. There's a sky's the limit of what you could end up making in that career. You could really do very well. And you could start from nothing here and end up in a very good position. It may take you a little while. Right now, you've got a real scary situation. There's a lot of fear, if you're a normal human anyway. But you're looking past that to go, where do i go from here and and i think it's all

about trying to establish your income and go from that do you guys have any debt uh no we actually got debt free in march okay and so um are there assets that you will get part of? Unfortunately, no. Okay. There are no assets. But at least you're not in the hole. Okay. Exactly, yes. Right.

Okay. And you have a good attorney that's being a good, strong advocate for you. Yes. Good. She's very good. Okay. Are you plugged into a good local church? No, I'm not okay i would try to get some community around you that'll walk with you as you get your new life started here and we'll help you in that process um that's what i would do if i were in your shoes and i think you're on track i mean mean, it's an income issue, and how are we going to feed four baby birds?

And, you know, making sure he follows through on the child support and whatever other things the court orders him to do is going to be vital in your situation. I'm so sorry you're facing this. You sure got your hands full, kiddo. But, yeah, get you with a local church, and you call me anytime. If I can help you with anything, I'll try to. And I appreciate what you're facing. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Lance is in Atlanta. Hi, Lance. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve.

What's up? Well, first I wanted to say thank you. I met my wife 17, 18 years ago. We've been married but found you early in our relationship. So we've never really had any debt. Good. But that's put us in a tough spot where we don't really know how to help some people that have debt. So we have an aunt who's 75 years old.

She's never been married. She doesn't have any kids. And recently she was in a really bad car accident. The person who hit her doesn't have much insurance or many possessions or money or anything like that. So my aunt is going to be, or she's already had over $300,000 in hospital charges, which I realize will probably be Medicare, Medicaid, something covering that.

But through this process, we uncovered that she has about $11,500 in credit card debt. That started about nine years ago and no one knew about it. She only has a fixed monthly income of like about $900, and we don't know what to tell her to do. Okay. Well, first thing is we've got to help her through the medical process and help her, you know, collect from Medicaid, Medicare, or her personal health insurance, whatever she's got available to her, to make sure that that all gets cleared up.

And then from there, what you're going to be doing is just if once you get her stabilized and back home and so forth um she's trying to make it on 900 bucks that's just pretty tight and that's how she ran up the credit card debt i'm not that worried about the credit card debt the first thing is i'm worried about just sustainability we got to get her budget where she's sustainable. And once you cover that, then we think about credit card debt. I don't care if the credit card debt goes into default. I mean, come back to it later or not, whatever, if she wants to.

But I'm assuming she has no assets based on what you said. you're sad in the lobby of ramsey solutions kevin and tony are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hey, Dave, how's it going? Better than I deserve. Welcome. Where are y'all from? From Bakersfield, California. All the way to Nashville to do a debt-free scream. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Love it. How much have you guys paid off? We paid off $160,500. Way to go. And how long did this take? 53 months. And Dave, I have to say during that time, we cash flowed about $32,000 in medical debt and had to replace a car during the course of our journey. Wow. And your range of income during the 53 months? Range of income, so in the beginning, close to about $150,000 and to the end, close to $200,000.

Good. What do you guys do for a living? I work as a CPA back home. And I'm a records administrator for an oil and gas company. Great. Very cool. Very cool.

What kind of debt was the $161,000? Okay, man. Well, a small bit of it was a student loan, my student loan, not even hers, but my student loan. And so that was about $82,500, $8,250. But the rest of it, Dave, and I'm going to do my best Dave impression. We paid all for house! $152,250.

Woo! Yeah. Love it! You have a California paid for house. California? Believe it or not. That makes you really weird. I mean, not just weird, but really weird.

No, we're some unicorns over there. Oh, yeah. I'm telling you, man. So what's that thing worth? Oh, man. You know, I last looked at it before we left. About $225,000, $230,000. Awesome, man. And you own it. About 225, 230. Awesome, man.

And you own it. Yeah. It's ours. Grass is ours. Oh, yeah. Everything is ours. Weird people. I love it.

How old are you two? 36. I'm 34. Not even 40 years old. You have a paid-for house in Bakersfield, California. Yes, sir. You are strange. I love it. I'm so proud of you, man. Thankfield, California. Yes, sir. You are strange. I love it.

I'm so proud of you, man. Thank you, man. That is awesome. And on top of that, cash flow, $32,000 in medical debt and bought a car. Yeah. Wow. Big time. Big time.

So what got you guys started four and a half years ago? Oh, man. We have got to give a shout out to Dave and Sandy. Matt. Matt, excuse me, Matt and Sandy Davis. They are the ones who sort of put us on the whole Dave Ramsey thing. You know, we sort of started off paying debt and we had paid off our cars and, you know, credit cards. But we never thought, OK, we could pay off our house. You know, everybody has a mortgage payment, right? Right. But so what ended up happening is they gifted us a kit. And so we started to go to the courses.

And then, you know, lo and behold, you know, we start kicking this mortgage, you know, in the rear. And here we are. Well, like Tony was saying, I mean, it's, you know, especially in California. Yeah, everybody got a mortgage. But when we got in that class and we heard you talk about baby step six, no, this man's crazy. We can't pay off this house. We can't really do that, can we?

But, you know, I work as a CPA, and so I see everything in numbers. And so he's like, you know what, let me try Dave on this. So we looked at the numbers, and we charted a course out, and we talked about how much extra we can do. And we looked at it, you know, hon, we can do this. So we looked at the numbers and we charted a course out and we talked about how much extra we can do. And we looked at it, you know, hon, we can do this. This is doable. Yeah. Nobody just ever thought about it before. No, it's just doable. Yeah. So you did the class at home or you went to a class? We went to a class. We went to a class that, um, I was actually a colleague of mine at my, at my firm and, uh, he, he coordinates the class. So we went to his class at, it was actually a colleague of mine at my firm. Okay.

And he coordinates the class. So we went to his class at his church. And, you know, from that begat us as FPU coordinators. Oh, wow. So we're actually in the midst of our, hopefully they're watching. Yeah. But we're actually in the midst of our third FPU class. Yes, right now.

Wow, thank you. Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. Well, you've not only become the students but you became the teachers yeah yeah well and that makes you do it for sure you don't have any way out and you gotta you gotta play through well i often hear you say dave is is uh there's a saying i i love the i don't know where you get it from but uh when the student is ready the master will

appear yeah and that was sort of for us um and you know when we're ready to do that you know poof dave ramsey appeared i love it so you're trekking along through this 160 000 do you remember when it was that it wasn't just math that told you you were going to do it, but you could see it. And you went, we're that close. Where were you? Do you remember? I can recall a situation that we had when we started to pay the debt off, and we actually had some income stored away, and one of our cars needed to be fixed.

And we literally cash flowed it, and we walked off, and we were like, whoa, we just paid for this with cash. It was insane. We just sat there like, I can't believe we just did this. Debt free. That's when it started to know that you could do anything now. Oh, yeah. That's very cool. Very cool.

Good for you guys. Okay, so what advice do you have people listening you paid off your house in california i mean you're weird so how do you do that what's the keys to getting out of debt i would say that would be communication um commitment and consistency oh big c's oh yeah three c right? Love it. So for us, you know, sitting down and making sure that we were on the same page and that we were OK. You know, there were certain times to where I feel like it was really me to where I felt like I need a balance here. You know, we're going with gazelle intensity. And so, you know, every so often we would just make sure that we celebrated all the small victories and maybe took a trip here and there.

But, yeah, we just made sure we stayed in the community well the way i look at it dave is is you know how you talk about the gazelle and the cheetahs after you but you know in order to have that balance you know i think our cheetah had asthma so every once in a while well i mean when you're working on baby step six that's not you don't run like that i mean it's supposed to be more of a more of a rhythm yeah yeah and you so you had a little bit of rhythm, and that's good. We did. We did. But I mean, we were just inspired to do all the way through.

I mean, I guess in my mind is the quicker we can get to that point where we settle off the mortgage, the more we can do. Yeah. The more we can live and give like no one else, the quicker we can get to it. Absolutely. And you're there now. Yes, sir. How does it feel to not have any payments, no house payment?

You can't tell me nothing. It's unbelievable. It really is. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah. I know you often talk about, you know, go out there and get on that grass and see how it feels. And we literally did that.

Did we? I know you did that. We got two little dogs at home. And, you know, they do their business out on the ground. You got to be careful when you do this. You definitely do. You got to be careful where you're walking. Oh, yeah, yeah.

So I got my little pets that I stepped in and stepped out. We're deaf-free. That's fun. Well done, you guys. So you had lots of cheerleaders around you, your cohort that got you started, and then all the classes you've taught, all cheering you on, right? Oh, yeah. Definitely.

Yeah. It's good to have positive peer pressure. Yeah, yeah. You know? People around you telling you you can do it, because there's all kinds of losers out there telling you you can't do it. Right. Oh, yeah. Or telling us that you're crazy.

You guys are crazy. Because we did have some of those. Even, I think there was somebody in my job. We're all CPAs, and we're all accountants. Yeah. And somebody told me, you're crazy. And they couldn't see what I saw. And so, yeah, I think that was part of the problem.

I know the Bible talks about you need to write the vision out and make it plain, and that's what we did. When you chart out the course, when you budget, that's you making that vision plain, and that's you executing on it, and that's where it becomes real for you yeah so yeah until you do yeah it's a game plan and it becomes a plan rather than a dream absolutely and that's when it starts to unfold for you away to go you guys love it thank you got a copy of chris hogan's book for you every day millionaires we already got that book well you got another one or you can have your pick of something else out of the bookstore or whatever you want. And Dave, real quick, I just want to say something real quick to my wife and just to everybody. I just, you know, I couldn't have done this without her, Dave. And I couldn't have done it without God either. But but because we're on the same page and and because, you know, we she was willing to sacrifice.

You know, I was a little bit more good than she was. But I had my hand with her and was trying to pull her on the way. But she talked about balance, and it was important to have that balance. And so we did put some things off, and because now that we're debt-free, I haven't told her. I got a little surprise for her. I'm going to share it with her later. Oh, wow.

Okay, good. Very good. All right, Kevin and Tony from California, $161,000 paid off. 53 months, make it $150,000 to $200,000. A surprise coming later. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

Where's the fee? Free! Free! Love it! Wow! Wow. so i go out at the break to see Kevin and Tony. Kevin drops down on one knee and asks his wife to recommit, redo their vows over again, and hands her a huge diamond ring. Way to go, dude!

Well played! Well played! Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! You guys watching on YouTube can see it right now, man. Oh, I love it. Ha-ha-ha-hoo-hoo! You guys watching on YouTube can see it right now, man. Oh, I love it. It got me right in the middle of it. I'm like, dude, you want me in this shot? Oh, my gosh.

Eric is in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hey, Eric, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I had a question for you. I am 32 years old. I am self-employed. I own a small used car dealership, and I am debt-free other than my home. I bought it last year. I put it on a 15-year note. I finance less than 80% on it. I use some money down on that. So no credit cards, nothing like that. I do operate off of a floor plan, a business line of credit through my business. I do have paid for inventory, but like I said, I do use that line of credit to buy extra vehicles.

I didn't know what my next step should be. I'm currently renting the business that I'm at now, the property. I'm fixing to start investing 15% of my income. Good. I didn't know if you thought that I should put 20% down on my business property whenever I go to buy it, if I should just keep using my liquid cash that I have. First thing I would do would be I would get the business running debt-free. The second thing I do is get my house paid for, and the third thing I'd do is save up and pay cash for a business property. You can rent that business property for a long time.

There's nothing wrong with that. Okay. Yeah, my rent's cheap, so that's kind of one thing that I was at. I would not buy until I paid cash and had the business running cash and had my home paid off. Excellent. I never heard you touch on that before, so I didn't

know where i really stood and what i should do that's exactly what we did here and it worked out well for me long term i mean like 17 years ago i leased this building with an option to purchase five years later i bought it and um boy it's turned out to be a great investment now we're moving out of it because we can't fit in it anymore but it's going to be a great investment. Now we're moving out of it because we can't fit in it anymore, but it's going to be a rental property. Okay. And so, you know, that's worked out over the long haul. But you need to pay cash for everything from this point forward, and that includes cleaning up. Your first steps, just get rid of the use of the business line of credit by just, you know,

piling up some cash over there in the business to keep rolling those cars over and be your own floor plan that's that's the way you go our scripture of the day is galatians 5 22 but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such thing there is no law. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, What you do speaks so loudly that I can't hear what you say. Michaela is with us in Missouri. Hey, Michaela, are you hi dave i'm good how are you better than i deserve what's up well i'm 21 years old and i'm completely debt free other than my car

and i'm just trying to decide if i should sell this car or wait another year because I can get it paid off before I start saving because I want to completely buy a house or build a house with cash without having to take out a mortgage. So that's my next step. I'm just trying to decide what to do with my car now. What do you make? I make about, I'd say, $34. And how much do you owe in the car? $55 hustle. I owe a little over $11,000 on it still. Yeah, I'm sorry.

Your phone broke up. You owe how much on the car? A little over $11,000. And you make $34,000? Yes. Okay. So you're going to get the car paid off in one year. Yes.

And then you're going to rent and save and pay cash for a house over time? Yes. I don't see a house over time? Yes. I don't see a problem with that. Okay. As long as you stop borrowing. Yeah, stop borrowing. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Okay, you're doing great.

I mean, you've got some great goals for 21 years old. Get after it, kiddo. Crystal is with us in Los Angeles. Hi, Crystal. How are you? I'm better than I deserve, Dave. It's a pleasure to talk to you. You too.

What's up? I just better than I deserve, Dave. It's a pleasure to talk to you. You too. What's up? I just wanted to start real quick. I promised my six-year-old I would tell you how much he loves you and your show. He was very excited I was calling. I appreciate it. Oh, thank you. I'm big with the six-year-olds. Well, because of you, he knows how he makes his money to buy his ice cream and treats

because mom and dad won't pay for them. So you're very popular. It's called work. Very good. So my husband and I have made the decision to ultimately relocate from Southern California to Tennessee because California is just crazy. We're just really feeling done here. However, we're in baby step three, no debt at all. We're a little over halfway done with baby step three. And I'm just, we have family. I have family in Tennessee. My parents live there.

But I'm really overwhelmed with how we do this in a wise way. Have you got careers lined up? Well, I'm a stay-at-home mom. I do some side work from home, but my husband works in construction here, though that has not been great for us so far because the work has been very patchy. So he's willing to do that there if that's what helps get us established, but ultimately he would like to transition into owning his own business once we're stable and secure. But what does he do in the construction world?

He's a heavy equipment operator. He's a union apprentice right now, but he's been in it for years. What part of Tennessee are you talking about moving to? We're not entirely sure. My parents live near Jackson, and they have basically a fully furnished apartment in their basement that they've offered us to stay in for free while we put our feelers out and get established and find where we want to go.

But just a little bit. Well, heavy equipment operators are in great demand in the metro areas. Jackson's a small town. I don't know what the demand would be there, but it would certainly be less than a major metro area. And so, you know, that's what you're looking at. You may have a harder time landing something. I don't know. He may be able to just make a couple phone calls and land.

I have no idea. But, you know, for instance, Nashville is a boom town, so there's a shortage of heavy equipment operators. So you've just kind of got to look at the market you're moving into to be wise, or just have something lined up before you make the move. Do you own your home in California? No, we rent, and the only reason we're able to get by at all is because we just got lucky with a house that is cheaper than most studio apartments here. Do you have a lease that you need to fulfill?

No, we finished our lease, so we're just month to month now. Okay. So what is keeping you from moving other than him landing a job? So he's an apprentice with the union, and he still has to fulfill some credits with the union. Otherwise, they could come after us to fulfill some credits with the union. Otherwise they could come after us to pay for training that they provided. And he's only, if he had like full-time work, it would only take about three or four months, but we're not, he's not working. He hasn't worked in months and there's not a whole lot. He hasn't worked for them in months. He's picked up some

side jobs to help pad our savings. So that's holding us back. And then the only other thing I'm concerned about is completing baby step three before we leave, and I'd like, ideally, to have a down payment prepared, but I'm worried now... Well, I would get in touch with his union supervisor and see if they can't give him a release since they're not providing opportunity. Okay. Because the union's supposed to be a blessing, not a curse. Yeah.

Would we be wiser to have our down payment saved before we rent? No, you don't need to buy. You just need to move. Okay. You're going to rent because you've got to get settled in. You're renting now. Yeah, we are. So go rent and settle in, and your rent's going to be nothing in Jackson, Tennessee,

compared to Los Angeles. Yeah, yeah. We're actually just be nothing in Jackson, Tennessee, compared to Los Angeles. Yeah, yeah. We're actually just outside of Los Angeles, but it's... Either way. I mean, there's no comparison at all. The trick is make sure he has employment lined up. You don't want to move to an area, especially a smaller town, and not have employment lined up. So make a trip over and, you know, see if you can get some stuff lined up and see if you can meet

with the union and get a release. You don't want them chasing you for the apprenticeship costs, for sure. So, hey, thanks for the call. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. Our thanks to James Childs and Kelly Daniel and Madison filling in for Kelly today. I am Dave Ramsey, your host.

We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, guys, it's Blake Thompson, Senior Executive Producer for The Dave Ramsey Show. This hour is over, but you can find more great content on our YouTube channel. Catch the most watched Dave Ramsey, debt-free screens, and the very popular Everyday Millionaire segment. Go to the Dave Ranty Show YouTube channel and click subscribe.